Kipyego Too Tough To Beat in Women’s NCAA XC Champs
Posted November 19th, 2007 at 6:00 PM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Cross Country, College
From gun to tape, the women’s division of today’s NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships had only one leader: Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech. The junior from Kenya ran away from the field to defend her individual title in 19:30.9 (unofficial) over the 6 km course in Terre Haute, Ind.
Last year, Kipyego sprinted to the fore at the gun and never looked back. However, Kipyego was content to run most of the first mile with a lead pack this year that included three others: Colorado’s Jenny Barringer, the 2006 runner-up, Florida State’s Susan Kuijken, and Iowa’s Diana Nukuri.
Kipyego started to edge ahead on a long downhill just past the mile passing the 2 km in 6:26. Barringer, Kuijken, and Nukuri were only a second behind at the split before the field made their way up the course’s second long incline.
From that point on, Kipyego simply extended her lead over the chase pack — passing 4 km in 13:01, 11 seconds ahead of Barringer, Kuijken, and Nukuri.
While Kipyego ran alone unchallenged up front, Barringer pulled away from Kuijken and Nukuri over the next kilo.
Kipyego, who started nursing school this fall at Texas Tech and had to balance her academic demands with her training to defend her title, won in a course-record 19:31.
“I wanted to start slow then build up over the course,” said Kipyego after the race. “I raced Jenny a lot and I know she’s really strong at the end.”
Barringer cruised home in second, crossing the line in 19:48.
“I really wanted to go for the win; second isn’t good enough for me. I wanted to risk it all for the win” said Barringer who goes by the nickname “Puddles.” “I’m closing the gap. She’s getting better, I’m getting better.”
Kuijken pulled away from Nukuri over the final stretch to claim third, with the Florida State sophomore finishing in 19:58, her only cross country loss of the season, and the Iowa senior in 20:07. Michigan State’s Nicole Bush finished fifth in 20:14.
The team race appeared over by the middle of the race, with two-time defending champion Stanford opening a huge lead in the team standings at both the 2 km and 4 km splits.
“We didn’t want to do anything –for lack of a better phrase –”cute” or acrobatic,” said coach Peter Tegen, who was celebrating his fifth team title– two while at Wisconsin in 1984 and 1985, and two at Stanford in 2005 and 2006. “We knew all we needed to do was run. With a mile to go, we had the race sown up. Then lightning struck.”
Teresa McWalters, who had appeared to be running comfortably with team leader Arianna Lambie midrace, began to struggle over the final kilometer and literally crawled across the finish line in 62nd place –losing dozens of places in the final stretch.
Still, the Cardinal was dominant enough to pull off the win with 145 points (Stanford won with an “NCAA record” high point total of 146 in 2005, then “surpassed” that total with 195 points in 2006. Pac-10 rivals Oregon –who didn’t even qualify for these championships in 2006– finished second with 177 points, while Florida State claimed third with 236 points.
The NCAA meet will return to Terre Haute for the sixth time in seven years in 2008.
Official Results:
WOMEN (6 km) -
Teams: 1. Stanford 145; 2. Oregon 177; 3. Florida State 236; 4. Arizona State 251; 5. Michigan State 321; 6. Illinois 331; 7. Northern Arizona 357; 8. Washington 358; 9. West Virginia 375; 10. Iowa 387; 11. Florida 391; 12. Minnesota 393; 13. Arkansas 406; 14. Princeton 409; 15. Colorado St. 410… [31 scored]
1. Sally Kipyego, JR, Texas Tech [KEN] 19:30.9
2. Jenny Barringer, JR, Colorado 19:47.8
3. Susan Kuijken, SO, Florida State [NED] 19:57.3
4. Diane Nukuri, SR, Iowa [BDI] 20:07.0
5. Nicole Bush, SR, Michigan State 20:13.4
6. Emily Harrison, SR, Virginia 20:15.0
7. Barbara Parker, SR, Florida St [GBR] 20:17.0
8. Nicole Blood, SO, Oregon 20:17.6
9. Arianna Lambie, SR, Stanford 20:18.2
10. Melissa Grelli, JR, Georgetown 20:19.6
11. Brianna Felnagle, JR, North Carolina 20:28.2
12. Tasmin Fanning, JR, Virginia Tech 20:32.4
13. Alexandra Kosinski, FR, Oregon 20:33.3
14. Angela Bizzarri, SO, Illinois 20:34.7
15. Alex Becker, JR, Tulsa 20:35.0
16. Meghan Armstrong, SR, Iowa 20:36.3
17. Marie-Louis Asselin, SO, West Virginia 20:39.9
18. Lisa Koll, JR, Iowa State 20:40.0
19. Katie Follett, SO, Washington 20:42.6
20. Anita Campbell, JR, Washington 20:42.6
21. Maddie McKeever, JR, Duke 20:45.5
22. Grace Kemmey, JR, Iowa State 20:46.2
23. Carmen Ballard, SR, Columbia 20:48.7
24. Lauren Blankenship, SR, Samford 20:50.3
25. Hanna Grinaker, SO, Wisconsin 20:50.5
26. Danette Doetzel, JR, Providence [CAN] 20:51.1
27. Natalie Picchetti, SR, Georgia 20:52.3
28. Catherine Parker, SR, New Hampshire 20:53.4
29. Diana Jepchirchir, SR, Coastal Carolina [KEN] 20:55.8
30. Ilsa Paulson, FR, Northern Arizona 20:56.1
31. Sara Vaughn, JR, Colorado 20:56.7
32. Keri Bland, SO, West Virginia 20:58.1
33. Jamie Cheever, SO, Minnesota 20:58.3
34. Erin Webster, SR, Michigan 20:59.1
35. Lauren Hagans, SR, Baylor 20:59.2
36. Lauren Centrowitz, SR, Stanford 20:59.3
37. Jenna Kingma, JR, Arizona State 21:00.4
38. Lindsay Donaldson, SR, Yale 21:01.9
39. Zoe Buckman, SO, Oregon [AUS] 21:05.9
40. Katie Harrington, SR, Stanford 21:06.5
41. Christy Johnson, SO, Princeton 21:06.6
42. Ali Kielty, SO, Arizona State 21:07.1
43. Nichole Jones, SO, Baylor 21:07.4
44. Jolly Burke, SO, Iowa 21:08.6
45. Lauren Weaver, SR, Belmont 21:08.9
46. Dana Morgan, SO, Portland 21:09.1
47. Janet Jesang, SO, Western Kentucky [KEN] 21:10.2
48. Laura Rolf, JR, Valparaiso 21:10.4
49. Silje Fjortoft, FR, SMU [NOR] 21:11.0
50. Kari Hardt, SO, Arizona State 21:11.7
51. Camille Olson, FR, Arizona State 21:12.0
52. Alison Bishel, SO, Ball State 21:12.0
53. Alex Gits, FR, Stanford 21:12.4
54. Sariah Long, SR, Weber State 21:12.9
55. Lesley Van Miert, SR, N Arizona [NED] 21:13.8
56. Jillian Rosen, FR, Arkansas 21:14.1
57. Bridget Franek, SO, Penn State 21:14.4
58. Katie Engel, JR, Illinois 21:14.7
59. Irene Kimaiyo, SR, Texas Tech [KEN] 21:14.7
60. Jacy Kruzel, JR, Florida 21:15.5
61. Laura Mickelson, SR, Loyola Marymount 21:15.8
62. Teresa McWalters, SR, Stanford 21:16.0
63. Angelina Blackmon, SR, North Carolina St. 21:16.2
64. Mattie Bridgmon, JR, Eastern Washington 21:16.3
65. Cecily Lemmon, FR, BYU 21:16.8
66. Bethany Nickless, SR, UC Santa Barbara 21:19.0
67. Kate Van Buskirk, SO, Duke 21:19.5
68. Megan Lewis, SR, UC Santa Barbara 21:19.9
69. Smita Gupta, SR, Brown 21:20.1
70. Pilar McShine, FR, Florida State 21:21.1
71. Alissa McKaig, JR, Michigan State 21:21.6
72. Lindsay Allen, SR, Stanford 21:22.0
73. Grandt Clara, SO, West Virginia 21:22.5
74. Becky Wade, FR, Rice 21:22.9
75. Kirsten Anthony, JR, Colorado St 21:23.3
..
78. Gladys Kipsang, SO, Texas Tech [KEN] 21:24.3
..
80. Nicole Edwards, JR, Michigan 21:24.9
..
89. Kate Niehaus, SO, Stanford 21:29.6
..
93. Megan Kaltenbach, SR, North Carolina 21:30.9
..
106. Elizabeth Ambrus, SR, UAB 21:35.0
..
135. Zoe Nelson, JR, Oregon 21:47.1
..
149. Astrid Leutert, FR, N Arizona [SUI] 21:53.4
..
179. Chepleting Boit, JR, Texas Tech [KEN] 22:11.5
..
186. Heather Dorniden, SO, Minnesota 22:15.2
187. Geena Gall, SO, Michigan 22:15.4
…
[254 finishers]
Written by: Mike Scott (Live in Terre Haute)
Results compiled by: RRW Assistant Editor Bob Ramsak
(c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
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Tags: Arianna Lambie, arizona state, barbara parker, colorado, D I, diana nukuri, Division I, emily harrison, florida state, iowa, Jenny Barringer, Laverne Gibson Championships Cross Country Course, melissa grelli, michigan state, ncaa division i cross country championships, Nicole Blood, nicole bush, oregon, puddles, Sally Kipyego, stanford, Susan Kuijken, Teresa McWalters, Texas Tech
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The Final Sprint